Its circa 1995, the intensity King of Bollywood, who hardly smiles on screen is seen dancing to Govinda's COOLIE NO. 1 'roop hai suhana song' as one of the group extras, yes we are talking about Ronit Roy who plays Michael in this ding dang hell of a dance cum pyaar ishq mohabbat dosti misadventure misdirected by Sabbir Khan.

Out of job soon after the shoot, the drunken Michael finds an abandoned baby boy on the road; he brings him home and calls him Munna. 'That's why' the movie is called MUNNA MICHAEL and excuse me, it's not a father son bonding wala story (later on what it intended to be and what it became). In the background a tune similar to the opening notes of MLTR ((Michael Learns to Rock) 'That's why' (again but for a different reason) number is playing smoothly. I tried to get the connection between the two 'Michaels' that have come across in those initial reels but an LP record of King of Pop - Michael Jackson's 'Beat it' asked me to beat the idea of finding any intelligence in the script of a Sabbir Khan entertainer starring the current young dance and stunt sensation - Tiger Shroff, that can be written on a piece of paper as big as your restaurant bill.

So what is MUNNA MICHAEL all about?... kya hai yeh MUNNA MICHAEL? If you expected it to be a heartfelt tribute to MJ - the king of pop that will moonwalk in the annals of Bollywood better dance based films, it's certainly not. The dots that are observed - father Michael big fan of MJ (even dresses like him) gives up dance for being a failure, brings an abandon baby boy at home and as a symbol of final adieu to dance takes off his hat and salutes an LP record of MJ. The baby boy Munna (Tiger Shroff) has music in his genes; he grows up to be a gifted dancer who secretly learned dancing by watching videos of Michael Jackson. Till the casting credits are getting rolled and Tiger is introduced, the audience definitely had a film on hand.

But Boom, like Tiger's kick-buttin, skull smashin, the movie gets into an all together different zone as if an ongoing dance show suddenly gets replaced by a comedy show. Papa Michael doesn't approve the dance moves of Munna, who leaves Mumbai and goes to Delhi. Two songs are done and now it's time to exploit Tiger's popular stunt baazi, so Munna gets into a fight with a local goon played by Pankaj Tripathi who turns out to be the brother of Mahinder Fauji (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who runs a land grabbing mafia. Impressed by Munna's dancing skills, Mahinder hires Munna as his dance teacher and they become best buddies.

Mahinder is learning to be dancer because he wants to cha cha cha and sambha with this Rambha by the name Dolly (Nidhhi Agerwal ) a dancer. Dolly dreams to be a reality show star and falls for Munna. Obviously, she becomes the bone of contention between Munna and Mahinder and by the time both Munna and Dolly start ding dang together, the 'spirit' of MJ which was hoping for some miracle gets vanished by jumping in the well. Hell. MUNNA MICHAEL fails to fit in any particular genre. The romance, bromance, the inspiration from MJ all are half backed.

The only thing that gives some credibility to the film is Tiger Shroff's undeniable energy, his boy like charm and of course his incredible dance moves and stunts that makes him stand apart and a favorite amongst kids. He is thoroughly enjoyable and gives his fans moments to whistle and cheer. If rated by Tiger Shroff's dance and action moves alone then MUNNA MICHAEL scores 9 out of 10 but as a film it struggles to get even passing grades.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui gets a role almost parallel to Tiger but look at the irony, a very average actor like Tiger due to his unmatched skills that are vital in mainstream cinema to be a star like dancing and stunts, forces the NSD trained brilliant actor like Nawazuddin Siddiqui to try something extra to get noticed. Nawazuddin manages anyhow in the end to gain attention but actually he is wasted and luckily escapes from turning into a caricature.

New comer Nidhhi Agerwal is just plain okay. Pankaj Tripathi is fine. The erstwhile intense and serious Ronit Roy laughs, cries and even shakes a leg. Last time he smiled and laughed in Abbas Mastan's MACHINE (just recollecting, not giving any hints).

Director Sabbir Khan's fourth film after KAMBAKKHT ISHQ (2009), HEROPANTI (2014), BAAGHI (2016) sadly turns up into his weakest film and fails to hold the attention.

Like Farah Khan, Shaan and Chitrandga Singh who play celebrity judge of a dance reality show which Dolly urf Deepika wins of course with the help of Tiger's scintillating dance in the final act, the celebrity judges are seen cheering constantly, the fans of Tiger may join them but the rest who searched for a film in this show will be disappointing.

Yes it was supposed to be routine but entertaining and Sabbir Khan had a 'routine' in providing entertainment to the audience in his previous three films but here he fails in his routine. Tiger Shroff and Sabbir combo is incomplete without a punch line, they do have it in MUNNA MICHAEL too which goes like 'Munna jhagda nahi karta, munna sirf pithta hai." (I don't fight I only beat).. Congratulations to those who get this.. and I end up with something inspired from the above ''Munna Michael is not cinema, it's a circus where we see a chiseled Tiger dancing like a dream''. Beat it' or 'Enjoy Yourselves'.